Disheartening pictures of flooded Houston streets filled the internet this weekend as the wrath of Hurricane Harvey took over Texas. Thousands of tweets, post, and shares expressed the deepest of sympathies to one of the worst natural disasters Texas has seen in its history. Twitter became filled with retweets of families in desperation looking for loved ones, Instagram became a never ending timeline of pictures of the state of Texas with prayers, and commercials ran 24 hours with support hotlines and ways to donate. While the support of citizens from other cities in the United states was apparent, during Hurricane Harvey's beginning stages, few celebrities spoke out. As the days went on and the conditions worsened, celebrities began taking to their social media accounts to show their support.
A celebrities voice and opinion of social topics, events, and issues hold more weight than they know -- but sometimes fans need the bit of reassurance that their favorite singer, rapper, actress, athlete, or model is indeed human. It is comforting to know that these praised stars are both talented and knowledgeable about events going on affecting the very people that look up to them. What good is a voice if no one can hear it?
Houston has been a hub for talent, and one of the most known stars to come out of Houston is Beyonce. There wasn't a time Beyonce would not let her fans forget she was Southern-raised, and Houston has her heart.
Beyonce has done a great job so far keeping her private life private. When she spilled the tea on her album Lemonade about Jay-Z's infidelity, he took a year to respond with his album 4:44; in which he addressed the rumors in a song of the same title. Keeping her life so private has left fans wondering...is she contributing to fans?
Beyonce posted to her official Instagram a picture showing love and supporting the victims of Hurricane Harvey, but little has been said by her team about donations or help Beyonce has done. While words are comforting, the victims are in dire need of food, shelter, and clothing. But then again, we know how Bey is -- her private life is her private life.
According to the Huffington Post, in 2014, Beyonce donated $7 million to the Knowles-Temenos Place Apartments in Houston, a project she launched in 2007 after the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Earlier this year, Essence dropped a list of donations and honorable acts both Beyonce and Jay-Z have done including her trip to Haiti, the BeyGood Foundation, and Jay-Z's aim to provide bail for Baltimore prisoners, and the Shawn Carter Foundation.
Other celebrities such as Kelly Rowland, longtime friend and former Destiny's Child member with Beyonce, showed her support on Instagram with a picture and caption stating 'Houston has, and always will be the city that changed my LIFE! Everyone please send out prayers for H-Town!'.
Comedian Kevin Hart donated $25,000 and challenged other celebrities such as Beyonce, Drake, Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Harvey, and Justin Timberlake to donate and exercise their voice as well with a video posted to Instagram.
Drake also posted to Instagram with a lengthy and loving caption '...Houston has truly been a home to me over the last 8 years. Myself and @futuretheprince are working with local relief groups to aid and assist the people of Texas in anyway we can and in the most immediate way possible...' As we all know, Drake is not shy showing his love for a favorite city of his.
As an avid fan of both Drake and Beyonce, I am looking forward to what they will do in the near future to help the victims; fan who are counting on these celebrities to bring light and a helping hand to this situation.
